Milton KeynesMilton Keynes (/ˌmɪltən ˈkiːnz/ ( listen) MIL-tən
KEENZ), locally abbreviated to MK, is a large town[note 1] in the
Borough of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, of which it is the
administrative centre. It was formally designated as a new town on 23
January 1967,[2] with the design brief to become a "city" in scale. It
is located about 45 miles (72 km) north-west of London.
At designation, its 89 km2 (34 sq mi) area incorporated
the existing towns of Bletchley, Wolverton, and Stony Stratford, along
with another fifteen villages and farmland in between. It took its
name from the existing village of Milton Keynes, a few miles east of
the planned centre.
At the 2011 census, the population of the
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes urban area,
including the adjacent
Newport PagnellNewport Pagnell and Woburn Sands, was
229,941.[1] The population of the Borough in total was 248,800,[3]
compared with a population of around 53,000 for the same area in
1961.[4]

History[edit]
Main article: History of Milton Keynes
Birth of a "New City"[edit]
In the 1960s, the UK Government decided that a further generation of
new towns in the South East of
EnglandEngland was needed to relieve housing
congestion in London.

Population trend of Borough and Urban Area 1801–2011

Since the 1950s, overspill housing for several
LondonLondon boroughs had
been constructed in Bletchley.[5][6][7] Further studies[8][9] in the
1960s identified north
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire as a possible site for a large
new town, a new city,[10] encompassing the existing towns of
Bletchley,
Stony StratfordStony Stratford and Wolverton. The New Town (informally and
in planning documents, "New City") was to be the biggest yet, with a
target population of 250,000,[11] in a "designated area" of 21,850
acres (34.1 sq mi; 88.4 km2).[12] The name "Milton
Keynes" was taken from the existing village of
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes on the
site.[13]
On 23 January 1967, when the formal new town designation order was
made,[2] the area to be developed was largely farmland and undeveloped
villages. The site was deliberately located equidistant from London,
Birmingham, Leicester,
OxfordOxford and
CambridgeCambridge with the intention[14]
that it would be self-sustaining and eventually become a major
regional centre in its own right. Planning control was taken from
elected local authorities and delegated to the Milton Keynes
Development Corporation (MKDC). Before construction began, every area
was subject to detailed archaeological investigation: doing so has
exposed a rich history of human settlement since
NeolithicNeolithic times and
has provided a unique insight into the history of a large sample of
the landscape of north Buckinghamshire.
The Corporation's strongly modernist designs featured regularly in the
magazines
Architectural Design and the Architects' Journal. MKDC was
determined to learn from the mistakes made in the earlier New Towns
and revisit the Garden City ideals. They set in place the
characteristic grid roads that run between districts ('grid squares'),
as well as the intensive planting, lakes and parkland that are so
evident today. While still on the drawing board, planners noticed that
the main streets near the proposed city centre would almost frame the
rising sun on Midsummer's Day. Greenwich Observatory was consulted to
obtain the exact angle required at the latitude of Central Milton
Keynes, and they managed to persuade the engineers to shift the grid
of roads a few degrees in response.[15] CMK was not intended to be a
traditional town centre but a central business and shopping district
to supplement Local Centres in most of the grid squares.[13] This
non-hierarchical devolved city plan was a departure from the English
New TownsNew Towns tradition and envisaged a wide range of industry and
diversity of housing styles and tenures across the city. The largest
and almost the last of the British New Towns,
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes has 'stood
the test of time far better than most, and has proved flexible and
adaptable'.[16] The radical grid plan was inspired by the work of
Californian urban theorist
Melvin M. Webber (1921–2006), described
by the founding architect of Milton Keynes, Derek Walker
(1929–2015), as the "father of the city".[17] Webber thought that
telecommunications meant that the old idea of a city as a concentric
cluster was out of date and that cities which enabled people to travel
around them readily would be the thing of the future achieving
"community without propinquity" for residents.[18]
The Government wound up MKDC in 1992, 25 years after the new town was
founded, transferring control to the Commission for
New TownsNew Towns (CNT)
and then finally to English Partnerships, with the planning function
returning to local council control (since 1974 and the Local
Government Act 1972, the Borough of Milton Keynes). From 2004-2011 a
Government quango, the
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Partnership, had development
control powers to accelerate the growth of Milton Keynes.
Along with many other towns and boroughs,
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes competed for
formal city status in the 2000, 2002 and 2012 competitions, but was
unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the term "city" is generally used by its
citizens, local media and bus services to describe itself, perhaps
because the term "town" is taken to mean one of the constituent towns.
Road signs refer to "Central Milton Keynes" or "Shopping" when
directing traffic to its centre.
Prior history[edit]

The area that was to become
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes encompassed a landscape that
has a rich historic legacy. The area to be developed was largely
farmland and undeveloped villages, but with evidence of permanent
settlement dating back to the Bronze Age. Before construction began,
every area was subject to detailed archaeological investigation: doing
so has provided a unique insight into the history of a large sample of
the landscape of south-central England. There is evidence of Iron Age,
Romano-British, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman,
MedievalMedieval and Industrial
revolution settlements. Collections[19] of oral history covering the
20th century completes a picture that is described in detail in
another article.
BletchleyBletchley Park, the site of
World War IIWorld War II British codebreaking and
Colossus, the world's first programmable electronic digital computer,
is a major component of MK's modern history. It is now a flourishing
heritage attraction, receiving hundreds of thousands of visitors
annually.[20]
When the boundary of
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes was defined in 1967, some 40,000
people[21] lived in three towns and fifteen villages or hamlets in the
"designated area" of 21,863 acres (8,848 ha).
Urban design[edit]

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The concepts that heavily influenced the design of the town are
described in detail in article urban planning – see 'cells'
under Planning and aesthetics (referring to grid squares). See also
article single-use zoning.

Since the radical plan form and large scale of
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes attracted
international attention, early phases of development include work by
celebrated architects, including Sir Richard MacCormac, Lord Norman
Foster, Henning Larsen, Ralph Erskine, John Winter, and Martin
Richardson.[22] Led by
Lord Campbell of Eskan (Chairman) and Fred
Roche (General Manager), the Corporation attracted talented young
architects led by the young and charismatic Derek Walker. In the
modernist Miesian tradition is the Shopping Building designed by
Stuart Mosscrop and Christopher Woodward, a grade II listed building,
which the
Twentieth Century Society inter alia regards as the 'most
distinguished' twentieth century retail building in Britain.[23][24]
The contextual tradition that ran alongside it is exemplified by the
Corporation's infill scheme at Cofferidge Close, Stony Stratford,
designed by Wayland Tunley, which carefully inserts into a historic
stretch of High Street a modern retail facility, offices and car park.
The
Development Corporation also led an ambitious Public art
programme.
The urban design has not been universally praised, however. Francis
Tibbalds, president of the Royal Town Planning Institute, described
the centre of
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes as "bland, rigid, sterile, and totally
boring."[25]
Grid roads and grid squares[edit]

The geography of Milton Keynes – the railway line, Watling
Street, Grand Union Canal, M1 motorway – sets up a very strong
north-south axis. If you've got to build a city between (them) it is
very natural to take a pen and draw the rungs of a ladder. Ten miles
by six is the size of this city – 22,000 acres. Do you lay it
out like an American city, rigid orthogonal from side to side? Being
more sensitive in 1966-7, the designers decided that the grid concept
should apply but should be a lazy grid following the flow of land, its
valleys, its ebbs and flows. That would be nicer to look at, more
economical and efficient to build, and would sit more beautifully as a
landscape intervention.

Professor David Lock, CBE[26]

Main articles:
Milton Keynes grid road systemMilton Keynes grid road system and List of districts in
Milton Keynes
The
Milton Keynes Development Corporation planned the major road
layout according to street hierarchy principles, using a grid pattern
of approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) intervals, rather than on
the more conventional radial pattern found in older settlements. Major
internal roads run between communities, rather than through them:
these distributor roads are known locally as grid roads and the spaces
between them – the districts – are known as grid
squares.[27] Intervals of 1 km (0.62 mi) were chosen so that
people would always be within walking distance of a bus stop.
Consequently, each grid square is a semi-autonomous community, making
a unique collective of 100 clearly identifiable neighbourhoods within
the overall urban environment. The grid squares have a variety of
development styles, ranging from conventional urban development and
industrial parks to original rural and modern urban and suburban
developments. Most grid squares have Local Centres, intended as local
retail hubs and most with community facilities as well. Originally
intended under the masterplan to sit alongside the Grid Roads, the
Local Centres were mostly in fact built embedded in the communities.
RoundaboutRoundabout junctions were built at intersections because the grid
roads were intended to carry large volumes of traffic: this type of
junction is efficient at dealing with these volumes. Some major roads
are dual carriageway, the others are single carriageway. Along one
side of each single carriageway grid road there is a (grassed)
reservation to permit dualling or additional transport infrastructure
at a later date. To date this has been limited. The edges of each grid
square are landscaped and densely planted, some additionally have
berms. Traffic movements are fast, with relatively little congestion
since there are alternative routes to any particular destination other
than during the (brief) peak periods. The national speed limit applies
on the grid roads, although lower speed limits have been introduced on
some stretches to reduce accident rates. Pedestrians rarely need to
cross grid roads at grade, as underpasses and bridges exist in
frequent places along each stretch of all of the grid roads. However,
the new districts to be added by the expansion plans for Milton Keynes
are departing from this model, with less separation and using 'at
grade' crossings. This approach, which contradicts the original design
ethos, has been a cause for conflict between residents and the Council
who are often regarded as failing to preserve the unique development
style of the city.[28] Monitoring station data[29] shows that
pollution is lower than in other settlements of a similar size.
The Redways: a network of shared use paths[edit]

Main articles:
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes redway system, Segregated cycle
facilities, and Shared use path
There is a separate network (approximately 270 kilometres or 170 miles
total length) of cycle and pedestrian routes, the "redways", that runs
through the grid-squares and often runs alongside the grid-road
network.[30] This was designed to segregate slow moving cycle and
pedestrian traffic from fast moving motor traffic. In practice, it is
mainly used for leisure cycling rather than commuting, perhaps because
the cycle routes are shared with pedestrians, cross the grid-roads via
bridge or underpass rather than at grade, and because some take
meandering scenic routes rather than straight lines. It is so called
because it is generally surfaced with red tarmac. The national
SustransSustrans national cycle network routes 6 and 51 take advantage of this
system.
Height[edit]

The Hub:MK, built between 2006 and 2008. The taller glass tower,
Manhattan House, has fourteen stories.

The original design guidance declared that "no building [be] taller
than the tallest tree". However, the
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Partnership, in its
expansion plans for Milton Keynes, believed that Central Milton Keynes
(and elsewhere) needed "landmark buildings" and subsequently lifted
the height restriction for the area. As a result, high rise buildings
have been built in the central business district. Four of the
pedestrian underpasses were closed to 'normalise' the streetscape of
Central Milton KeynesCentral Milton Keynes and the character of the area was set to change
under government pressure to increase densities of development. These
changes are being opposed by pressure groups such as
Urban EdenUrban Eden and
the
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Forum. More recent local plans have protected the
existing boulevard framework and underpasses following the dissolution
of
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Partnership.
Recent large-scale buildings include The Pinnacle:MK on Midsummer
Boulevard and the Vizion development on Avebury Boulevard. The
Pinnacle was the largest office building to be constructed in Milton
Keynes in 25 years. More recently the
Network RailNetwork Rail National Centre has
been built at the western limit of Silbury Boulevard; this building
occupies a large land area but only rises to the equivalent of six
storeys; a return towards the design of the original Central Milton
Keynes developments.
Linear parks[edit]

Caldecotte Lake, Milton Keynes

The flood plains of the Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel
and some brooks) have been protected as linear parks that run right
through Milton Keynes. The
Grand Union CanalGrand Union Canal is another green route
(and demonstrates the level geography of the area – there is
just one minor lock in its entire 10-mile (16 km) meandering
route through from the southern boundary near
Fenny StratfordFenny Stratford to the
"Iron Trunk" Aqueduct over the Ouse at
WolvertonWolverton at its northern
boundary). The
Park systemPark system was designed by landscape architect Peter
Youngman,[31] who also developed landscape precepts for all
development areas: groups of grid squares were to be planted with
different selections of trees and shrubs to give them distinct
identities. However the landscaping of parks and of the grid roads was
evolved under the leadership of Neil Higson,[32] who from 1977 took
over as Chief Landscape Architect and made the original grand but not
entirely practical landscape plan more subtle.[33]
"City in the forest"[edit]
The original
Development Corporation design concept aimed[17] for a
"forest city" and its foresters planted millions of trees from its own
nursery in Newlands in the following years. As of 2006, the urban area
has 20 million trees. Following the winding up of the Development
Corporation, the lavish landscapes of the Grid Roads and of the major
parks were transferred to The
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Parks Trust, a charity
which is independent from the municipal authority and which was
intended to resist pressures to build on the parks over time. The
Parks Trust is endowed with a portfolio of commercial properties, the
income of which pay for the upkeep of the green spaces.[34]
Landscape[edit]
The land on which
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes was built was originally hedges,
marshes, ancient woodland and wildflower meadows. Today, roses in
particular thrive in its heavy clay soils.[35]
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes has been dubbed
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire capital of shrubs by The
Guardian newspaper[36].
Further development plans[edit]

One of the new 'city streets', an extension of H7 Chaffron Way, in
Broughton Gate.

Main article: Expansion plans for Milton Keynes
In January 2004,
Deputy Prime MinisterJohn PrescottJohn Prescott announced[37] the
Government's plan to double the population of
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes by 2026.
He appointed
English Partnerships (EP) to do so, taking planning
controls away from
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Borough Council and making EP the
statutory planning authority. Their proposal for the next phase of
expansion moves away from grid squares to large-scale, mixed use,
higher-density development. The more detailed article expands on the
details of their proposals. As the first stage in that plan, the
Government expanded[38] the boundaries of the designated area, adding
large green-field expansion sites to the east and west that were to be
developed by 2015.
In June 2004
Milton Keynes PartnershipMilton Keynes Partnership Committee (MKPC), was created
by the Government and was a committee of the Homes and Communities
Agency (HCA), the national housing and regeneration agency for
England. MKPC was created to ensure a co-ordinated approach to
planning and delivery of growth and development in the ‘new city’.
Milton Keynes PartnershipMilton Keynes Partnership was disbanded in 2011,[39] holding its last
meeting in March of that year. Its functions were folded back into the
Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), with
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Council
handling planning permission for established areas of MK.
Culture[edit]
Music[edit]

The open-air
National BowlNational Bowl is a 65,000-capacity venue for large-scale
events.
In Wavendon, the Stables provides a venue for jazz, blues, folk, rock,
classical, pop and world music.[40] It was founded by jazz artists
Cleo LaineCleo Laine and the late
John Dankworth and is now ranked in the UK's
top 10 music venues by the Performing Right Society.[citation needed]
It presents around 400 concerts and over 200 education events each
year and also hosts the National Youth Music Camps summer camp for
young musicians.[41] In 2010, it founded the biennial IF Milton Keynes
International Festival, producing events in unusual spaces and places
across Milton Keynes[42]
MK11 Live Music Venue & Sports Bar, based in Kiln Farm near Stony
Stratford, is a 330 capacity live music venue and sports bar that
hosts over 200 live music events throughout the year. MK11 features
local acts as well as more notable acts from a variety of musical
genres. Some notable acts include The Blockheads, Big Country, The
King Blues, The Hoosiers, Akala and Men at Works' Colin Hay. MK11 has
also featured a number of influential US hip-hop artists such as
Grandmaster Flash, Pharoahe Monch, KRS One and Dead Prez. MK11 was
voted as "best live music pub" by readers of local culture magazine
Monkey Kettle in 2014.[43] In addition to this award MK11 also won
'Bar of the Year 2017' at the
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Food & Leisure Awards.
Arts and literature[edit]
The municipal public art gallery, MK Gallery,[44] presents free
exhibitions of international contemporary art.
There are two museums:

BletchleyBletchley Park complex which, as well as housing the museum of wartime
cryptography, also hosts (separately) the National Museum of Computing
including a working replica of the Colossus computer, and
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Museum, which includes the Stacey Hill Collection of
rural life that existed before the foundation of MK and the original
Concrete Cows.

The 1,400 seat
Milton Keynes TheatreMilton Keynes Theatre opened in 1999. The theatre has
an unusual feature: the ceiling can be lowered closing off the third
tier (gallery) to create a more intimate space for smaller-scale
productions. There are further performance spaces in Bletchley,
Wolverton, Leadenhall, Shenley Church End,
StantonburyStantonbury and Walton
Hall.
MK also has a literature scene, with groups like Speakeasy[45] meeting
regularly and hosting performance events, and former poetry and arts
magazine,
Monkey Kettle which ran between 1999 and 2014. In addition,
two performance poetry groups exist – Poetry Kapow!,[46] an
offshoot of
Monkey Kettle though now independent of the parent
organisation, specialising in live, multi-discipline, interactive
poetry/art/music events, usually featuring slams; and Tongue in
Chic,[47] a regular open mic poetry event which features headline
poets such as John Hegley.
In May 2011 the outgoing Mayor, Debbie Brock, announced the
appointment of Mark Niel as the first official Milton Keynes' Poet
Laureate.[48]
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Arts Centre is situated in the historic village of Great
Linford in the north of MK, between
WolvertonWolverton and Newport Pagnell.
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Arts Centre offers a year-round exhibitions, families
workshops and courses. Situated across many of
Great LinfordGreat Linford Manor's
exterior buildings (barns, Almshouses, Pavilions), the Arts Centre
offers a special historical setting.
The Westbury Arts Centre is situated in the west of MK, near Shenley
Wood. It is based in a 16th-century grade II listed Farmhouse
building. The Art Centre has been providing spaces for professional
working artists to create work since 1994. The oldest part of the
house was built in the sixteenth century and has been greatly extended
over the years. It has several acres of garden and is home to several
protected species of bats and newts.
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes also boasts several choirs – the Milton Keynes
Chorale, the New English Singers, the Cornerstone Choir, Quorum,[49]
the
Open UniversityOpen University Choir, and others.
There is a variety of amateur drama groups, and amateur musical
theatre groups.
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Forum is the registered civic society for MK.[50]
Public sculpture[edit]

Liz Leyh's iconic "Concrete Cows"

Public sculpture in
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes includes work by Elisabeth Frink,
Philip Jackson,
Nicolas Moreton and Ronald Rae.[51]
Education[edit]
The Open University's headquarters are in the Walton Hall district,
though because this is a distance learning institution, the only
students resident on campus are approximately 200 full-time
postgraduates.
CranfieldCranfield University, an all-postgraduate institution,
is in nearby Cranfield, Bedfordshire.
Milton Keynes College provides
further education up to foundation degree level, however a
Postgraduate Certificate in Education[52] course is available; run in
partnership with and accredited by
OxfordOxford Brookes University.
In 1991
LeicesterLeicester Polytechnic established a purpose-built polytechnic
campus in Kents Hill in Milton Keynes, opposite the Open University's
Walton Hall site, which was officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth IIQueen Elizabeth II in
1992. This was originally branded 'The Polytechnic: Milton Keynes'.
Later in 1992
LeicesterLeicester Polytechnic gained university status and was
renamed De Montfort University, and the site was rebranded 'De
Montfort
UniversityUniversity Milton Keynes'. However, DMU closed the MK site in
2003 and the
Open UniversityOpen University has expanded to take over the buildings.
Although
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes does not yet have its own conventional local
university, its founders hope that the
UniversityUniversity Campus Milton Keynes
will be the seed for a future '
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes University'. MK is
currently the UK's largest population centre without its own
university proper.
Like most parts of the UK, the state secondary schools in Milton
Keynes are Comprehensive schools, such as
StantonburyStantonbury Campus and
Denbigh School, although schools in the rest of
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire still
use the Tripartite System. Results are above the national average,
though below that of the rest of Buckinghamshire – but the
demography of
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes is also far closer to the national average
than is the latter. Access to selective schools is still possible in
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes as the grammar schools in
BuckinghamBuckingham and Aylesbury
accept some pupils from within the unitary authority area, with
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire County Council operating bus services to ferry pupils
to the schools.
Private schools in
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes include the 3-to-18 mixed sex Webber
Independent School[53] and the 2½-to-11 mixed sex Milton Keynes
Preparatory School.[54]
The
Safety CentreSafety Centre is a purpose-built interactive centre which provides
safety education to visiting schools and youth groups via its
full-size interactive demonstrations known as Hazard Alley. Another
educational organisation is the
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes City Discovery
Centre[55] at Bradwell Abbey, which holds an extensive archive about
Milton Keynes. MKCDC is therefore a research facility, as well as
offering a broad education programme (with a focus on urban geography
and local history) to schools, universities and professionals. MKCDC
also holds an annual programme of events at the medieval priory site
on which they are based.
Government and infrastructure[edit]
Local government[edit]
The responsible local government is
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Council, which
controls the Borough of Milton Keynes, a Unitary Authority. About 90%
of the population of the Borough lives in the urban area.
Hospitals[edit]
Milton KeynesMilton KeynesUniversityUniversity Hospital, in the Eaglestone district, is an
NHS general hospital with an
Accident and EmergencyAccident and Emergency unit. It is
associated for medical teaching purposes with the
UniversityUniversity of
BuckinghamBuckingham medical school. The nearby BMI Saxon Clinic is a small
private hospital.
UK government offices[edit]
The Legalisation Office of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth
Office – which issues
ApostilleApostille certificates to prove that
official documents are genuine – is located in Milton
Keynes.[56]
Government Communications HeadquartersGovernment Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) previously had been
located in
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes (at
BletchleyBletchley Park), but moved to Cheltenham
in the early 1950s.[57]
Communications and media[edit]
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes has two commercial radio stations, Heart Four Counties
covering Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and
Northamptonshire, and MKFM.
The first commercial radio station for
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes was established
in 1989 under the name Horizon Radio. It was subsequently renamed
Heart MK in 2009 after being bought out by Global Radio. Heart MK was
merged with Heart Northants,
Heart DunstableHeart Dunstable and
Heart BedfordHeart Bedford in 2010
to form Heart Four Counties.
MKFMMKFM launched in 2011, initially broadcasting on internet, later on
DAB Digital Radio full-time. The station launched on 106.3 FM on
Monday 7 September 2015.
BBC Three Counties Radio is the local
BBC RadioBBC Radio station, covering
Buckinghamshire,
BedfordshireBedfordshire and Hertfordshire, but has different
programming from the
Bow Brickhill transmitter at breakfast.
CRMK[58] is a voluntary station broadcasting on the Internet.
For television, the area is in the overlap between the
OxfordOxford and the
Sandy transmitters and so receives BBC South and BBC East, and ITV
Meridian and Anglia.
As of October 2016[update],
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes has one free-to-residents
local newspaper, the
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Citizen.
Business[edit]
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes has consistently benefited from above-average economic
growth. Outside of
LondonLondon it is ranked as one of the most attractive
places for business along with Oxford,
CambridgeCambridge and Manchester.
In November 2012 the
Milton Keynes Citizen reported ratings company
ExperianExperian as describing
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes as one of the leaders in a
prospective economic recovery.[59] The same report quoted the Estate
Gazette as placing it first outside the M25 for office property
growth.[59]
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes is home to several national and international companies,
including the UK headquarters of Argos, Domino's Pizza, Marshall
Amplification, Mercedes-Benz, Suzuki, Volkswagen AG, Red Bull Racing,
Network RailNetwork Rail and
YamahaYamaha Kemble.[60]
In January 2015, it was announced that
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes had seen the
highest growth in jobs out of the biggest 64 towns and cities in the
UK during the preceding decade.
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes saw its number of jobs
increase by 18.2 per cent between 2004 and 2013, followed by
LondonLondon on
17.1 per cent.[61]
Sport[edit]
Main article: Sport in Milton Keynes

Near the central station, the former
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes central bus station
has become a youth club called 'the Buszy' with a purpose-built
covered "urban skateboarding" arena, but the wide expanses and slopes
of the station plaza remain very popular among skaters.
There is a high security prison, HMP Woodhill, on the western
boundary.
WillenWillen Lakeside Park hosts watersports, and the North Lake is a bird
sanctuary.
The
Blue Lagoon Local Nature ReserveBlue Lagoon Local Nature Reserve is in Bletchley.

Original towns and villages[edit]

During the Second World War, British, Polish and American
cryptographers at
BletchleyBletchley Park broke a large number of Axis codes
and ciphers, including the German Enigma machine.

Milton KeynesMilton Keynes consists of many pre-existing towns and villages, as
well as new infill developments. The designated area outside the four
main towns (Bletchley, Newport Pagnell, Stony Stratford, Wolverton)
was largely rural farmland but included many picturesque North
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire villages and hamlets: Bradwell village and its Abbey,
Broughton, Caldecotte, Fenny Stratford, Great Linford, Loughton,
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Village, New Bradwell, Shenley Brook End, Shenley Church
End, Simpson, Stantonbury, Tattenhoe, Tongwell, Walton, Water Eaton,
Wavendon, Willen, Great and Little Woolstone,
Woughton on the Green.
The historical settlements have been focal points for the modern
development of the new town. Every grid square has historical
antecedents, if only in the field names. The more obvious ones are
listed below and most have more detailed articles.
BletchleyBletchley was first recorded in the 12th century as Blechelai. Its
station was a major Victorian junction (the
LondonLondon and North Western
Railway with the Oxford-
CambridgeCambridge Varsity Line), leading to the
substantial urban growth in the town in that period. It expanded to
absorb the villages of Water Eaton and Fenny Stratford.
BletchleyBletchley Park was home to the Government Code and Cypher School
during the Second World War. The famous
Enigma codeEnigma code was cracked here,
and the building housed what was arguably the world's first
programmable computer, Colossus. The house is now a museum of war
memorabilia, cryptography and computing.
The
BenedictineBenedictinePrioryPriory of
Bradwell AbbeyBradwell Abbey at Bradwell was of major
economic importance in this area of north
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire before the
Dissolution of the Monasteries. The routes of the medieval trackways
(many of which are now Redways or bridleways) converge on the site
from some distance. Nowadays there is only a small medieval chapel and
a manor house occupying the site. Bradwell itself is a traditional
village with earthworks of a Norman motte and bailey and parish
church. There is a YHA hostel beside the church.
New Bradwell, to the north of Bradwell and just across the canal and
the railway to the east of Wolverton, was built specifically for
railway workers. It has a working windmill, although technically this
lies just a few yards outside of the parish boundary. The level bed of
the old
WolvertonWolverton to
Newport PagnellNewport Pagnell Line ends here and has been
converted to a Redway, making it a favourite route for cycling.
Great LinfordGreat Linford appears in the
Domesday BookDomesday Book as Linforde, and features a
church dedicated to Saint Andrew, dating from 1215. Today, the outer
buildings of the 17th century manor house form an arts centre, and
Linford ManorLinford Manor is a prestigious recording studio.
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Village is the original village to which the New Town
owes its name. The original village is still evident, with a pleasant
thatched pub, village hall, church and traditional housing. The area
around the village has reverted to its original name of Middleton, as
shown on old maps of the 1700s. The oldest[62] surviving domestic
building in the area, a 14th-century manor house, is here.
There has been a market in
Stony StratfordStony Stratford since 1194 (by charter of
King Richard I). The Rose and Crown Inn at Stratford is reputedly the
last place the
Princes in the TowerPrinces in the Tower were seen alive.
The manor house of Walton village, Walton Hall, is the headquarters of
the
Open UniversityOpen University and the tiny parish church (deconsecrated) is in
its grounds.
The tiny Parish Church (1680) at
WillenWillen contains the only unaltered
building by the architect and physicist Robert Hooke. Nearby, there is
a
BuddhistBuddhist Temple and a
Peace PagodaPeace Pagoda which was built in 1980 and was
the first in the western world.[63] The district borders the River
Ouzel: there is a large balancing lake here, to capture flash floods
before they cause problems downstream on the River Great Ouse. The
north basin is a wildlife sanctuary and a favourite of migrating
aquatic birds. The south basin is for leisure use, favoured by wind
surfers and dinghy sailors. The circuit of the lakes is a favoured
"fun run".
The original
WolvertonWolverton was a medieval settlement just north and west
of today's town. The ridge and furrow pattern of agriculture can still
be seen in the nearby fields and the Saxon (rebuilt in 1819) Church of
the Holy Trinity still stands next to the Norman Motte and Bailey
site. Modern
WolvertonWolverton was a 19th-century New Town built to house the
workers at the
WolvertonWolverton railway works, which built engines and
carriages for the
LondonLondon and North Western Railway.
Economy, demography, geography and politics[edit]
Main article: Borough of Milton Keynes
Data on the economy, demography and politics of
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes are
collected at the Borough level and are detailed at Economy of the
Borough and Demographics of the Borough. However, since the urban area
is predominant in the Borough, it is reasonable to assume that, other
than for agriculture, the figures are broadly the same.
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes is one of the more successful (per capita) economies in
the South East, with a gross value added per capita index that was 47%
higher than the national average (2005 data).[64] Average wages place
it in the top five nationally (2015 data).[65]
With 99.4% SMEs, just 0.6% of businesses locally employ more than 250
people:[66] the more notable of these include the Open University,
Santander UK, Volkswagen Group,
Network RailNetwork Rail and Mercedes Benz. Of the
remaining enterprises, 81.5% employ fewer than 10 people.[66] The
'professional, scientific and technical sector' contributes the
largest number of business units, 16.7%.[66] The retail sector is the
largest contributor of employment.[66]
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes has one of the
highest business start-ups in
EnglandEngland and the start-up levels remained
high during the 2009/10 recession.[66] Although Education, Health and
Public Administration are important contributors to employment, the
contribution is significantly less than in
EnglandEngland or the South East
as a whole.[66]
The population is significantly younger than the national averages:
22.6% of the Borough population are aged under 16 compared with 19.0%
in England; 12.1% are aged 65+ compared with 17.3% in England.[67]
According to 2011 census, the ethnic group categories makeup of Milton
Keynes Urban Area is: 78.4% White, 8.7% South Asian, 7.5% Black, 3.5%
Mixed Race, 1.2% Chinese and other Asian, and 0.7% other ethnic
group.[68]
Modern parishes, community councils and districts[edit]
The
Borough of Milton Keynes is fully parished. These are the
parishes, community councils and the districts they contain, within
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes itself. For a list of parishes in the Borough, see
Borough of Milton Keynes (Rest of the borough)

Ed Slater, professional rugby player for
Gloucester RugbyGloucester Rugby who went to
Two Mile AshTwo Mile Ash School and Denbigh Secondary School.
Dele Alli, professional footballer for Tottenham Hostpur who started
his career with
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Dons[70]
Christopher B-Lynch, (visiting) Professor of Obstetrics and
Gynaecology at
CranfieldCranfield University, responsible for inventing the
eponymously named
B-Lynch sutureB-Lynch suture which is used to treat post-partum
haemorrhage due to uterine atony worked at
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes General
Hospital.[71][72]
Andrew Baggaley, English table tennis champion.[73]
Sam Baldock, professional footballer for Brighton and Hove Albion, who
began his football career at MK Dons.[74]
Errol Barnett, an anchor and correspondent for
CNNCNN is from Milton
Keynes. He lived in Crownhill and attended Holmwood First School and
Two Mile AshTwo Mile Ash Middle School before moving to the US.[75]
Emily Bergl, an actress famous for her roles in Desperate Housewives
and Shameless. Bergl was born in Milton Keynes, to an Irish mother and
an English architect father.
Chris Clarke, English sprinter.[76]
Adam Ficek, drummer of
LondonLondon band Babyshambles.[77]
Lee Hasdell, professional Mixed martial artist and Kickboxer, and
pioneer of
Mixed martial artsMixed martial arts in the UK.[78]
James Hildreth, cricketer who plays for
SomersetSomerset and has played for
England.[79]
Shaun Hutson, Novelist of horror novels and dark urban thrillers, has
lived in
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes for several years.
Liam Kelly, professional footballer for Oldham Athletic.
Jim Marshall (1923-2012), founder and CEO of Marshall Amplification
was living in and ran his business from
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes when he
died.[80]
Gordon Moakes, the bassist for the London-based rock band Bloc
Party.[81]
Clare Nasir, the meteorologist, TV and radio personality, was born in
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes in 1970.[82]
Craig Pickering, English sprinter.[83]
Sarah Pinborough, English horror writer.[84]
Ian Poulter, PGA & European Tour golf professional. Member of the
2010 and 2012 European Ryder Cup Teams.[85]
Mark Randall, professional footballer for
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Dons.[86]
Antonee Robinson, professional footballer for Everton, on loan to
Bolton Wanderers.
Greg Rutherford, long jump gold medallist for
Team GBTeam GB at the 2012
Olympic Games.[87]
Jack Trevor Story, novelist, was a long-term resident of Milton
Keynes.[88]
Sam Tomkins,
Wigan WarriorsWigan Warriors and
EnglandEngland international rugby league
player, was born in Milton Keynes.[89]
Alan TuringAlan Turing (1912-1954), played a significant role in the creation of
the modern computer. He lodged at the Crown Inn, Shenley Brook End,
while working at
BletchleyBletchley Park.[90]
Nat Wei, Baron Wei, member of the House of Lords, (born Watford], was
brought up and went to school in Milton Keynes.
Kevin WhatelyKevin Whately lives in Woburn Sands, in the
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes urban area.
Dan WheldonDan Wheldon (1978-2011), Indy car driver.[91]
George Williams, professional footballer for Fulham
Pete Winkelman, Chairman of
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Dons Football Club, owner of
Linford ManorLinford Manor recording studios, long term resident.[92]
Ben Chilwell, professional footballer for Leicester

Bands[edit]

Capdown, the ska punk band, came from and formed in
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes in
1997.[93]
Fellsilent, the metal band, come from and formed in
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes in
2003.[94]
Tesseract, the djent band formed as a full live act in Milton Keynes
in 2007. Tesseract's guitarist, songwriter and producer Acle Kahney is
also a former member of Fellsilent.
Hacktivist, the Grime, djent band formed in 2011.
RavenEye, the rock band, formed in
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes in 2014.[95]

Climate[edit]
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate
classification Cfb) similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.
Recorded temperature extremes range from 34.6 °C
(94.3 °F)[102] during July 2006, to as low as −20.6 °C
(−5.1 °F)[103] on 25 February 1947. More recently the
temperature fell to −16.3 °C (2.7 °F)[104] on 20
December 2010.
The nearest
Met OfficeMet Office weather station is in Woburn,[105] located just
outside the south eastern fringe of the
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes urban area.

^ Although
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes was specified to be a city in scale and the
term "city" is used locally (inter alia to avoid confusion with its
constituent towns), formally this title cannot be used. This is
because conferment of city status in the
United KingdomUnited Kingdom is a Royal
prerogative.